posted 10-30-2006 11:15 AM            

A. Place settings, each with the following stamps, from left to right: walking man in circle followed by horizontal rectangle divided into thirds with the initials BMF, followed by the word Rostfrei stamped vertically. And then a second series of stamps on each utensil, from left to right: a quarter moon followed by a crown (or what appears to look like a circus tent or possibly an umbrella) followed by the number 800 followed by a walking man encased in a circle. Each of these stamps appears on each of the knives, forks, spoons and large utensils. I have determined that 800 refers to sterling silver in Germany.

B. Several large serving piece containers, each stamped with the word DIBNNAIS, and also stamped with the following hallmark, from left to right: bird encased in an octagon followed by a picture of a woman encased in a circle followed by a side view of a monkey within a diamond shape. There is no 800 mark to be found, so I am presuming silver plate.

C. One of these large serving containers also has stamped a large shield surrounded by an 8 petal decorative flower, appearing on the outside of its base. The top of the flower is the head/helmut of a Roman solider and then at the top and within the shield itself, the following partial or complete words are printed, curving around the top from left to right: NNO ASPERA TZ.RRENT. Under those words is the balance of the shield itself.
No 800 mark to be found.

Each of these large serving pieces contains three parts: the lid, the inside tray and the base. The base of each piece is cast with animal feet.

D. Large tray, oval, scrollwork handles, about 15 inches wide by 23.75 inches long, stamped from left to right as follows: picture of quarter moon, crown, 800, followed by the outline of a woman looking left. Of the large serving pieces, this is the only one stamped with the 800 mark.

I am working on photos of these and will submit them as soon as possible; however if anyone can help me with the identification of these pieces, from my descriptions of the stampings, I would be very grateful.

Thanks so much.
Sincerely,
tom tivol

I removed your e-mail address so that you don't receive SPAM. Also we are an online discussion forum and our members appreciate seeing all discussion done on-line.

posted 10-30-2006 04:49 PM            

Thank you for your welcome. I have been designing, buying, selling and appraising jewelry and gemstones for 30 years. I recently left my business and started my current company, at this time devoted exclusively to appraising. I designed and teach the course in the gemological method and appraisal ethics in the School of Art and Design and the University of Kansas in Lawrence, about 40 minutes from my office. I have never studied silver academically, and have sold only a bit of silver jewelry the past 30 years, from the typical American silver designers. I label myself a beginner because I have never worked with silver professionally, and have not appraised silver place settings and hollowware without the guidance of experts. I want to add what I generically call "family silver" as an area of my knowledge, and I was referred to your site from an American silver replacement service, used by many jewelers and the public. I have started a very small library of books on silver, and I will be posting a request soon with these titles, and asking those of you who are experts to advise on other titles that should be a mandatory part of a beginner's library.

For 30 years, I have collected silver toasting cups and goblets, from various countries and various periods of history, have been fascinated with their hallmarks, and have researched their stamps, one by one, book by book. Even so, I am still a beginner in my understanding of the vast world of silver identification markings. These are my personal collection, along with several sterling silver trays and a small tea service which were inherited years ago.

I have not been able to find these hallmarks in any of my books; however my books relate to American and English silver.

Thanks very much for taking the time to respond. I appreciate your concerns, and please let me know if I made you comfortable with my response.

Response to Scott Martin
Thank you for your edit. Given a little time, I will work hard to learn the rules of the road to work within your site. This collection is owned by a client who is tracing the geneology of his family, and this group of pieces belonged to his grandfather. I am researching the information for him. I attempted to post my information on the Continental Site, since that would include German silver, but then discovered that this site was not open to me, and I was unable to determine under what circumstances I would qualify to enter that site. Just a beginner's efforts to find the right place for help.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond.

Response to t-man-nc
Thank you for reading my posting. Please feel free to contact me with any questions.

posted 10-31-2006 03:37 PM            

Welcome to the forum. In response to "A":
The crescent moon and crown are the marks for Germany post 1888. What you describe as "a man walking in a circle" could be the town mark for Berlin (a walking bear) or Muncih (friar with outstretched arms), but without a photo of the marks, this is nothing more than a guess.